All Stories

  1. Illustration of a red and yellow key with bubbles around the handle and the bit. A greenish bubble also encircles the entire key and blue gear shapes appear in the background.
    Quantum Physics

    Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it

    Today's encryption schemes will be vulnerable to future quantum computers, but new algorithms and a quantum internet could help.

    By Emily Conover
  2. A photo of a honeybee sitting sitting on a white sage plant.
    Life

    Flowers pollinated by honeybees make lower-quality seeds

    Honeybees are one of the most common pollinators. But their flower-visiting habits make it harder for some plants to produce good seeds.

    By Jude Coleman
  3. An illustration of a megalodon about to eat a brown seal while a great white shark swims in the top left of the frame.
    Paleontology

    Megalodon sharks may have become megapredators by running hot

    O. megalodon sharks were warm-blooded megapredators. But colder-blooded great white sharks may have had an evolutionary edge when food sources dwindled.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  4. A photo of a snow fly standing on ice.
    Animals

    A grisly trick helps snow flies survive freezing: self-amputation

    When a snow fly’s leg begins to freeze, a quick amputation can prevent ice from spreading, keeping the cold-hardy insect alive.

    By Meghan Rosen
  5. A headshot of theoretical physicist Julian Muñoz against a brightly lit backdrop
    Physics

    Julian Muñoz has a ‘ruler’ that could size up the early universe

    The measurement tool could lay out a distance scale for cosmic dawn —and offer clues to the nature of dark matter.

    By Emily Conover
  6. photo of a bottlenose dolphin mom and calf
    Animals

    Bottlenose dolphin moms use baby talk with their calves

    When their babies are near, bottlenose dolphin moms modify their signature whistles, similar to human parents speaking in baby talk.

    By McKenzie Prillaman
  7. A photo of a hominid leg fossil on a black background with a magnified view of it on the right shows a variety of scratches and gouges.
    Anthropology

    Fossil marks suggest hominids butchered one another around 1.45 million years ago

    Researchers disagree whether new evidence of stone tool marks on a hominid leg bone reflects ancient cannibalism or perhaps some other, undetected behavior.

    By Bruce Bower

  8. Readers ask about Saturn’s icy rings, transparent fish and more

    By Science News Staff
  9. A photo of the pages of a book called the Dresden Codex.
    Astronomy

    50 years ago, a search for proof that the Maya tracked comets came up short

    The mystery of whether the ancient civilization tracked comets endures, but recent evidence hints the Maya tracked related meteor showers.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús

  10. Boys and girls are suffering, but in different ways

    By Nancy Shute
  11. An archaeologist wearing an orange safety vest touching some rocks
    Life

    1.6-billion-year-old steroid fossils hint at a lost world of microbial life

    Molecular fossils suggest the existence of a lost world of primitive eukaryotes that dominated aquatic ecosystems from at least 1.6 billion to 0.8 billion years ago.

    By Soumya Sagar
  12. An image from the Hubble Space Telescope of globular star cluster M92.
    Astronomy

    A star cluster in the Milky Way appears to be as old as the universe

    Globular cluster M92 is about 13.8 billion years old, a new calculation suggests. Getting the age right could help resolve a bigger cosmic conundrum.

    By Lisa Grossman